Michigan

Today's 7-on-7 drill was the worst of the Lions' camp

Detroit Lions rookie quarterback Matthew Stafford threw his first interception of training camp today in a 7-on-7 drill that was, overall, the worst performance by the offense so far in camp. And that came on the heels of a one-on-one receiving drill that was nearly as brutal.

In the seven-on-seven session, the Lions completed just 10 of 18 passes, but five of those connections were swing passes or dump-offs behind the line of scrimmage. Stafford, Daunte Culpepper and Drew Stanton all attempted six passes. As we've talked about before, a good NFL offense will go through a seven-on-seven drill without the ball ever touching the ground.

Stafford completed just three passes and also had a short pass to tight end Jake Nordin intercepted by linebacker Jordon Dizon (who made a good play after getting an excellent jump). Culpepper completed just two of his six attempts while Stanton hit five of his six, but the first four were all checkdowns.

"I think we started off slowly today,'' said Lions head coach Jim Schwartz. "You guys saw that first seven-on-seven wasn't the way we wanted. I talked to the team about that. We can't afford to have a bad period to start a practice.

"We've got to be able to come out and go but, overall, I've been happy about the guys' effort level in practice, embracing a new way of doing things and what they've been asked to do. We've got a long way to go before I'm going to be truly happy with anything. The only way we're all going to be truly happy is when we win games so let's wait until we do that until we give too many pats on the back."

Prior to the seven-on-seven drill, the Lions had a one-on-one session that is heavily weighted to the offense because the defensive back has no secondary support or pass rush on the quarterback. The cornerbacks, though, were breaking up a lot of passesd and also manhandling the receivers in the five-yard bump zone.

By the way, there's a little battle brewing between the defensive backs and receiver Adam Jennings because the defenders think Jennings gets too chippy with contact around the helmet. Cornerback Chris Roberson got real physical with Jennings and broke up a pass and let Jennings hear all about it -- as his fellow defensive backs cheered him on.

A few plays later, on the final play of the drill, Roberson and Jennings were matched up again -- and all the players were watching. Roberson got right into his grill and wanted to lock him up right at the line of scrimmage. Jennings, though, juked away from him and ran a short crossing route -- but he dropped the pass.